I found this post to be very thoughtful and it engaged with Stan’s situation on many levels. I though your identification of the social and cultural change within the school was excellent and made me contemplate this idea further. Stan is a complex character that appears to be unable to let go of the past and approach the future with a fresh attitude. I would suggest that he is prejudice towards the new culture of the school encroaches on his ability to teach his classes effectively. He expects his students to change instead of recognising the various learning styles and cultural difference within the classroom. I would suggest that Stan probably uses a formulaic approach to learning in the classroom, but as Sonbucher suggests, “people do not learn in the same way, according to a single formula.”(Sonbucher, 1991) Instead Stan should apply Bandura’s theory of Triadic Reciprocal Causation, to allowing for the connections between the students social environment, personal characteristics and behaviours within his classroom (Snowman, 2009, ch.9). If he understands that his students are not ‘Tabula Rosa’s’ but instead rich sources of cultural, social and intellectual knowledge he will ultimately improve self-efficacy and engagement within the classroom.
Snowman J., et al. (2009). Socail Cognitive Theory. In Psychology Applied to Teaching. (1st Australian Ed.) [John Wiley & Sons: Australia] pp.302-333
Sonbucher, G.M. (1991) Help Yourself: How to take advantage of your learning styles [New Readers Press: Syracuse NY]
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